No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2004.

Attitudes of primiparous women toward childbirth were studied longitudinally as they varied with the intervention of childbirth education classes before delivery; and as they varied with the experience of labor and deli very and having a baby in the home after delivery. An anxiety scale was used measuring anxiety toward labor, delivery, the parenthood role, and stress on the marriage relationship. Measurement on the anxiety scale was taken prior to childbirth education when primiparous mothers ranged from 4 months to 7-l/2 months gestation. Measurement II on the anxiety scale was taken after childbirth education, one month prior to delivery. Measurement III on the anxiety scale was taken one month following delivery . The sample consisted of primiparous women selected from two Childbirth Education Classes at the Logan L. D. S. Hospital, Logan, Utah, in September and October of 1974. The following numbers of women responded on each of the three questionnaires: Measurement I - 77 Measurement II - 69 Measurement III - 66 Total Matched sample including all three measurements - 56. H was found that anxiety toward delivery increased significantly alter childbirth education and as time for delivery drew nearer, while anxiety toward labor decreased slightly but not significantly. One month following delivery, however, anxiety decreased toward both labor and delivery, as was expected, but anxiety toward delivery decreased to a lower level than did anxiety toward labor. It appears that these primiparous women experience more anxiety toward delivery prior to the experience, but after experiencing labor and delivery, some feel more anxious about labor than about delivery. No difference was found between any of the three measures on anxiety toward the role of parent. The participation of husbands in labor and delivery was viewed by over 90 percent of these primiparous mothers as a positive factor, on all these measurements. Earlier in pregnancy, prior to childbirth education on Measurement 1, a strong positive correlation was found between physical symptoms of pregnancy and overall anxiety level. However, this relationship seemed to disappear after childbirth education, one month prior to delivery on Measurement II. An analysis of variance showed significant variation in the anxiety or stress of the childbearing cycle on the marriage relationship with the highest stress being just prior to delivery.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of family sculpting on perceptual agreement among family members. Thirty families, each consisting of a father, a mother, and a child twelve years old or older, from areas of northern Utah and eastern Idaho participated in the study. The following instruments were administered to all individuals: a biographical questionnaire containing items regarding age, sex, occupation, education, number of years married for parents, and birth order position for children; the Interpersonal Check List in which each family was to describe him/ herself and the other members of the family; the Family Life Questionnaire which measures satisfaction in the family; and, finally, the experimental group was also administered the Subjective Check List which is a self report measure of the subject's experience with the experimental treatment. Three hypotheses were made regarding the effect that family sculpting would have on perceptual agreement among family members in the experimental groups: 1. There would be no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. 2. There would be no significant difference between the low-satisfaction experimental group and the control group in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. 3. There would be no significant difference between the high-satisfaction experimental group and the control group in terms of perceptual agreement among family members after family sculpting as measured by the Interpersonal Check List. To test the hypotheses, analyses of covariance were computed for pre and posttest scores on all eight scales of the Interpersonal Check List, and on the Family Life Questionnaire. It was found that when the pretest means were held constant there was a difference on posttest means between the group which received family sculpting and the group that did not, on five of the twenty-four analyses. As a result of these findings all three hypotheses were rejected. However, notwithstanding a difference did exist, an examination of the unadjusted and adjusted means showed paradoxical results in that the level of perceptual agreement for the group which received family sculpting increased in three instances and decreased in two instances. Thus, it was determined that family sculpting may have facilitated changes in the perceptions of family members, however, it was not found to be effective in increasing perceptual agreement among family members. Further consideration would suggest that, in terms of a therapeutic approach, these possible changes in perception may be of value in breaking down maladaptive family communication patterns and establishing more adaptive ones.

This thesis explores the experiences of individuals living in a family where a member is dying or has a life-threatening illness. It focuses in particular upon how families are actively produced in the everyday `doing' of day-to-day family life (Morgan, 1996) in circumstances of severe ill-health and when facing death. Using an ethnographic approach combining informal, in-depth interviews with 9 families and participant observation on a hospice ward, the research provides insight into how families experience themselves as family in the `here-and-now' of their daily lives. It will be argued that in both popular culture and theoretical work there is a pervasive tendency to associate death with crisis and that the more ordinary, everyday and mundane aspects of dying experiences are less well understood. Therefore, the analysis of family lives presented here moves away from the more familiar model of emotional crisis and rupture in relation to severe ill-health and dying, to ask new questions about the `everydayness' of people's feelings and experiences during this time. A more nuanced picture of living with life-threatening illness and dying is provided as the data chapters explore the everyday and mundane in relation to families' experiences. Analysing empirical data about various aspects of dayto- day life - including eating practices, spatial dynamics and material objects - the thesis shows how ill-health and dying are not discrete ontological experiences existing outside and separate from everyday life. Rather, in paying attention to the `doing' of being a family day-to-day, this research brings more squarely into view, the everyday as a lived experience (Felski, 1999) within which families come to `know' their experiences of illness and dying.

The purpose of this study was to compare self-concepts of Negroes and Jews. The historical background conditions influencing the development of the Jews and Negroes are beyond the scope of this work and are therefore mentioned only incidentally. Two aspects of these two groups are under consideration: (1) How well or poorly do Jews and Negroes function in contemporary American society? (2) What sort of family life is characteristic of Jews and Negroes? These two aspects are considered important in connection with self-concepts, for the first is at least in part a manifestation of the self-concept, and family life is considered important as the major factor in the development of the self-concept. The self-concept and its development are treated more fully in a later part of this paper.

This thesis is a comparative study of academic mothers in China and the UK. It takes as its point of departure the proposition that academic mothers can be successful in combining academic work and motherhood. Drawing on the sociological approach of separate spheres, it addresses issues concerning how motherhood is constructed by academic mothers in the two different countries and how academic mothers make commitments to both academic work and family responsibilities in different contexts. By comparing academic mothers' experiences of juggling work and family between different cohorts and different countries, the thesis examines the interrelated issues that academic mothers confront, such as competition and pressure in academic work, advantage of the flexibility of academic work, childcare facilities and social support in the two countries, the priorities between work and children, what is good mothering, etc. Academic mothers' own perceptions of their double roles as an academic as well as a mother suggest that these two worlds are closely related to each other in spite of dilemma and conflicts they have in combining the two. By manifesting academic mothers' achievements in and contributions to both the public and private spheres, the thesis concludes that mothers can be successful in an academic career.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1957 J64 / Master of Science

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.